Photos and review by NOTES FROM VIVACE
LOS ANGELES – Building the buzz around his upcoming July 22 album release “Loner,” Barry Can’t Swim (the moniker for Joshua Spence Mainnie) concluded a North American tour with two sold out shows at The Shrine.
The music producer and DJ had his fan base pressed tightly inside the venue. Screams arose from the crowd as the venue lights went dark. Red strobe lights flashed as the 7-piece band walked onto the stage. Mainnie took to center stage on an elevated platform, surrounded by synths as well as a guitar. At the front were four string musicians, split evenly on both sides of the platform. On shorter platforms behind the string instrumentalist were a drummer and another keyboardist with her own set of synthesizers.
The crowd was prepared to dance the night away. Some early arrivals were seen doing stretching exercises. Others were in birthday party hats. A few came with large hand fans, adding to the visual scene of the night. Beach balls and balloons were tossed around.
All that fan participation added to the imagery provided by Barry Can’t Swim. On the back screen, an air dancer was seen encouraging the crowd to dance all the harder. A giant eyeball occasionally popped up as well. Lights flashed across the venue space, creating an elevated floor space that enticed one to imagine being able to walk across a tightrope of photons.
“This is really crazy to me, doing this show. A year and a half ago I played here. Honestly, to be coming back and doing two nights is generally the rad-ist thing.”
It was a non-stop dance party from the general admission floor to the VIP section in the balancy. As the clock ticked past the midnight hour, the crowd was left aglow under golden lights. Before an obligatory two song encore, Barry Can’t Swim ended the night with “Deadbeat Gospel” and a closing lyric to the party crowd, “But for God’s sake, kid, now stay off the drugs. And this is the gospel according to some deadbeat.”
Opening up the night was Chaos in the CBD to warm up the crowd’s dance moves. Someone in the crowd could be heard saying, “They’re going to blow up. The earlier arrivals definitely got close to their daily 5,000 steps while the duo on stage could be seen having the time of their lives as the two shared more than a few cheerful laughs.
Barry Can’t Swim setlist: The Person You’d Like to Be, About to Being, Dance of the Crab, Kimbara, Blackpool Boulevard, Always Get Through to You, Woman, Lone Raver, Sonder, Like It’s Part of the Dance, God is the space Between us, Can We Still Be Friends?, All My Friends, Kimpton, Still Riding, Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore, How It Feels, Different, Deadbeat Gospel. Encore: Rah That’s a Mad Question, Sunsleeper.
Listen to Barry Can’t Swim here:
